The Park Bench
by alittlebitofivory
Summary: Marius watches the world from his favorite park bench on campus and obsesses over his love life, but he's a little bit oblivious to the romantic plot going on around him. Modern college AU
1. Chapter 1

**Hey everyone, remember that time two years ago when I said I was writing a prequel to "A Saturday Night?" Well, I did this silly thing called "going to graduate school" and, turns out, that tends to majorly occupy all of your free time. Who knew, right? Anyway, I really did completely write 6 of the 8 chapters I had planned for this story before being kidnapped by academia, and I'm on my spring break right now with a surprisingly light workload, so I thought, "What the hell! Why not finish that damn story." I plan to post one chapter a day for you all as an apology. Enjoy your much overdue present, my friends!**

* * *

_Chapter 1: In Which Marius Embarrasses Himself Several Times and Doesn't Quite Understand Why Eponine Prefers His Help_

_A Tuesday in late September_

She was an angel. Of that, Marius was sure. He had seen her walk by the day before while he was sitting on his favorite bench on campus, enjoying his morning coffee.

And she had positively ruined his life. Of that he was also sure.

Marius had been completely hopeless in every class afterwards. He had also manged to nearly step out in front a bus (Bahorel had thankfully saved him), slip into the pond by the art building (Feuilly and Grantaire had laughed so hard they nearly threw-up), and talk about the mysterious girl he had seen so much that Enjolras had kicked him out of their study group "until he could behave like a sane person again."

Crashing into that bicyclist on the way out of the library hadn't helped much either.

So here he was again, sitting on the bench, hoping to catch another glimpse of the girl who was now haunting his thoughts. At least his head was clearer this morning. The last vestiges of yesterday's shock had worn off the night before as Marius crafted a plan to find the girl again. True, his plan had basically come down to "wait on the bench and hope she walks by," but there was not really much more Marius could do to find her. And he was determined to make the most of said plan. So it was rather unsurprising that Marius, in his focused state of people-watching, failed to notice his friend Eponine approaching the bench until she was already taking a seat next to him.

"Hey, 'Ponine," Marius said as he flashed a quick smile in her direction before returning his gaze to the passing students.

"Hey," she responded, leaning back into the bench. "I heard from Grantaire that you fell into the pond yesterday? Also that you're now unhealthily obsessed with a girl you saw for about five seconds. Should I be concerned about his excessive drinking causing him to hallucinate? 'Cause I throw a mean intervention party."

"Unfortunately, Grantaire is entirely correct on both of those statements." Marius sighed as he absentmindedly ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm waiting here on the off-chance I'll see her again."

"Ah. I see."

Something in Eponine's tone caused Marius to look over towards her, but by the time he was facing her she had placed a smile on her face. In his opinion, it was a rather false one, but he had learned long ago that any attempt to call her out on such smiles would get him nowhere. "Are you okay, Eponine?" he tentatively asked her.

"Well, I am a little bit worried about your mental health now, but I did have a problem I needed your help with when I came to find you," Eponine laughed.

Marius knew she was changing the subject on purpose, but he allowed her to do so as his gaze drifted back to the passing traffic. Eponine would tell him only what she wished to, and nothing more. "What do you need?" he asked, as his eyes once again started scanning faces.

There was a beat of tense silence before she responded. "I have a project for my Sociology class. My final project for the semester, actually. I wanted to do it on the socio-economic inequalities of the legal system, and since you're a law student, I was hoping you would read-over the legal parts of my research as I go along and read my final paper when I finish it," Eponine asked in a rush. Marius was unsure if it were nerves that had made her speak so quickly, or if she were honestly that excited about her project topic.

"Of course I'll help you, 'Ponine. Well, I'll do my best. Although..." Suddenly, Marius whipped his head around to face Eponine, a wild grin on his face. "I just had a brilliant idea. Courfeyrac owes me a favor. I bet I could get him to convince Enjolras to help you. This kind of topic would be right up his alley, actually."

Eponine's face fell into a pout, and Marius couldn't help but laugh. "Come now, it won't be that bad. He doesn't bite."

"No, it's just I...well, I'd prefer to work with you," Eponine whined. It always amazed Marius the way Eponine could jump from being forward and commanding to petulant and childlike. She simply bent the world to her whims.

"Don't worry, he intimidates almost everybody. You'll be fine, and he'll be much more helpful to you than I will. Your final paper will probably destroy your professor's ability to objectively judge anything any other student hands in ever again."

"But what if he doesn't want to help me?" Eponine asked.

"Don't worry," Marius responded, the crazy grin still wide across his face, "Courfeyrac can get anybody to do anything."

Eponine simply stared at Marius for a few seconds before finally throwing her hands up into the air and saying, "Alright, fine. You win. I will work with your scary-intense friend."

Marius laughed once more. He was about to return to his seemingly doomed quest when he noticed the strange look on Eponine's face as she stared out behind him. Marius turned back around to see what had caught Eponine's attention, and his heart leapt into his throat.

The girl was back again, walking down the sidewalk. Marius simply stared at her, awestruck. He saw her notice him staring at her and both of their cheeks flushed with embarrassment right before she passed out of his sight.

Marius whipped around to look at Eponine. "Do you know her, 'Ponine?" he practically pleaded.

"No, I... thought she was someone else for a second, that's all," Eponine responded, not meeting his eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2: In Which Marius Is Rather Persistent, Eponine Is Rather Annoyed, and Cosette Is Rather Bold_

_The following Thursday_

Marius was determined not to give up. He had seen her twice now, and while Wednesday had failed to result in another sighting, he hoped it was merely a matter of time before she walked past his regular haunt again.

The day before, Courfeyrac had joked that the mysterious girl was probably avoiding the area after catching Marius staring at her like a crazy person. The ensuing panic attack on Marius' part had resulted in Jehan forcing Courfeyrac to apologize, followed by Jehan assuring Marius he would see the girl again. And even though Jehan always wanted to believe in the most romantic outcomes, Marius had decided to follow his advice. As Thursday rolled around, Marius found himself once again intently watching people walk around campus.

Marius was so focused, in fact, he nearly dumped his coffee over himself in surprise when Eponine hurled her bag onto the bench next to him.

"Jesus, 'Ponine, what's wrong?" he asked in surprise as she threw herself down on the bench as well. Her face was contorted with rage. He had never seen her so angry before.

"I'm gonna rip your bastard friend's head off, that's what's wrong. Then I'm gonna drop-kick his stupid face into a lake," Eponine growled.

Marius wrinkled his forehead in confusion. "Which one?" he asked. Eponine had many of the same friends Marius did, and he couldn't think of anyone who would be stupid enough to make her so angry.

"Enjolras," she spat, saying his name as if it were something gross she had found on the bottom of her shoe. "I met up with him last night to discuss where I was with my paper, and he in no uncertain terms ridiculed my topic choice. He very clearly thought I had no real interest in it, and was only using it to..."

Suddenly Eponine sighed and dropped her face into her hands. "Sorry, I told him quite clearly yesterday that he was an ass and that I had no intention of changing topics. I thought yelling at him had vented all of my anger, but seeing you sitting here this morning just reminded me of it all over again."

Marius felt as if he had only traded one confusion for another. Why should seeing him make her angry? Was it because he had arranged for her to work with Enjolras? Had he been mentioned in their fight?

The fact that Marius had questions must have been quite evident in his facial expression. As Eponine sat up again, she saw his face and shook her head. "Don't worry about it, Marius. It's not really your fault." Eponine reached for her bag and rose from the bench as she slung it over her shoulder.

"Are you coming to Bahorel's match tonight?" she asked as she looked down at him. "I think watching him beat the crap out of someone is just the thing I need after the week I've been having."

"Probably not," replied Marius, "I have some work due for a class tomorrow. I'll try to make it next time, though." Marius was not really a fan of watching two people beat each other senseless, but even he had to admit Bahorel was impressive at what he did.

"Your loss!" Eponine yelled as she walked away from Marius, waving her hand in the air. Marius waved back at her, although he knew she couldn't see him, and returned to his watching. A tiny voice in the back of Marius' brain was trying to get his attention, telling him he had missed something important about his conversation with Eponine, but he soon lost all interest in it.

Because there she was again. The beautiful angel.

Marius could feel his cheeks flushing with embarrassment as he remembered how he had been caught awkwardly staring at her last time. Even worse, she seemed to have been expecting to see him again. Her face flushed as well as she looked over towards the park bench.

And then she did something completely unexpected. She changed direction and started to walk straight towards Marius. He felt as if he were starting to hyperventilate. Why was she coming over? Was she annoyed by him watching her last time? Oh God, what if he had creeped her out and now she wanted nothing to do with him? Marius continued to panic inside of his head until suddenly the girl was standing right in front of him.

The smile on her face as she looked down at him calmed his rapidly churning brain, and he could have sworn his heart exploded as she reached out her hand for him to shake.

"Hello," she said. "My name's Cosette."


	3. Chapter 3

_Chapter 3: In Which Marius Is Waiting and Courfeyrac Delivers Some News_

_One Week Later, A Thursday in October_

Marius couldn't believe it had only been one week since he had meet Cosette. They had hit it off right away, which was especially surprising given Marius' general social awkwardness. He sometimes cringed at the memory of the various ways he had embarrassed himself in front of strangers, and yet here he was. He and Cosette had been walking to their morning classes together every day since that first meeting, and he hadn't managed to scare her away.

It was probably a new personal record.

The park bench had become their regular meeting spot, so Marius' morning routine had actually been very little impacted by this pleasant change. His friends still knew where to find him in the mornings, so he wasn't very surprised to see Courfeyrac come trotting over, waving at him.

"Hey, Courf! What's up?" Marius asked as he waved back at his friend. Courfeyrac was always dashing about. He had more energy that any person Marius had ever meet, and was ten times more charming than anyone had a right to be. Worse, he knew he was charming, and shamelessly used it to his advantage.

"You will not believe what happened!" Courfeyrac laughed as he sat himself down on the bench next to Marius. "Eponine threw Enjolras into the fountain outside of the student center! It was beautiful!"

"What!?"Marius exclaimed. "When? Why?"

"Last night. And she really more sort of pushed him than threw him, but it was still absolutely fantastic. They were arguing about... something," Courfeyrac paused and gave Marius a rather apologetic look. "Sorry, I promised Ep I wouldn't say anything about what they were discussing. Anyway, she suddenly went all calm and rigid and asked Enjolras if she could borrow his cell phone for a moment."

Marius raised his eyebrows in surprise. Everyone knew Enjolras kept his entire life on his cell phone; names, schedules, lists. It wasn't exactly something he would just hand over to someone who was angry with him. Again, Marius' expressive face must have given away his thoughts, because Courfeyrac seemed to know exactly what he was on his mind.

"I know, it surprised me, too. But she swore it would be returned to him entirely unharmed, so he gave it to her. She took it, very carefully I might add, and handed it to me. Then she turned around, kicked Enjolras in the shin, and pushed him backwards into the fountain." The grin on Courfeyrac's face was one of pure joy. He was practically hugging himself with glee.

"She called him a ridiculous bastard and told him he could consider her act of mercy towards his phone as repayment for his help so far with her paper." Courfeyrac clapped Marius on the back and burst out laughing once more. "I swear, man, if you weren't already my best friend, you would be now. Your idea for the two of them to work together was pure genius. This has probably been one of the most entertaining weeks of my life. I can't wait to see what they do next."

Marius felt quite uncomfortable at the idea that the antagonism between Eponine and Enjolras was all his fault, no matter how much it amused anyone else. "I wonder if I should offer to help Eponine after all," Marius mused.

"Don't you dare!" Courfeyrac yelped. " I will _not_ allow you to end this beautiful train-wreck prematurely. If you do I'll... I'll hit on Cosette."

"No!" Marius exclaimed, fear coursing through his entire body. He grabbed Courfeyrac by his shirt collar with both hands and practically shook the other boy. "Do not ruin this for me, Courf! I haven't even asked her out on a date yet. Promise me you won't! PROMISE!"

"Then we're agreed," Courfeyrac replied, a smirk playing across his face. "You won't offer to help Eponine, and I won't sabotage your love life."

Marius let out a relieved sigh and released his friend's collar. Courfeyrac might be a smug bastard on occasion, but he kept his word.

"Holy crap!" Courfeyrac exclaimed as he gazed out over Marius' shoulder. Marius turned around to see Cosette as she started to make her way over to the park bench. "She's gorgeous!" Courfeyrac remarked. "I think I may regret having made that deal with you."

"Don't make me punch you in the face, Courf. Because I totally will," Marius growled in response.

Courfeyrac's laughter was the only response Marius received as his friend left him alone to meet Cosette.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4: In Which Marius Is Nervous, Combeferre Argues Using Fish, and Old Acquaintances Are Reunited_

_The Next Afternoon, A Friday_

Marius's scare with Courfeyrac the other day had spurred him to do something uncharacteristically bold. He had asked Cosette out on a date. And all of his previous terror had melted away when she readily agreed. Of course, it was replaced by a small amount of shame when he discovered she had fully expected to be the one to have to ask him out. It inspired him to try to be more outgoing.

After all, Cosette actually liked him. How could he possibly be afraid of anything now that his life was looking so perfect? Although there was the chance that he could still royally screw everything up.

They had agreed to meet in their usual spot before heading out for dinner, so he was sitting in a practically tangible cloud of happy nervousness when Eponine and Combeferre stumbled across him. They were deep in discussion when Marius noticed them and waved his hello.

"Eponine!" Marius exclaimed. "I heard you had an interesting time the other day! What happened?" He had yet to hear either Eponine or Enjolras explain what had led to the spectacular fountain incident. Eponine had been mysteriously absent recently, and Enjolras had refused to speak of it at all.

"Oh, hey Marius," Eponine replied with a smile. "What are you doing here?" She sat down on the bench besides him while Combeferre leaned over to brace his forearms on the bench's backrest.

"I'm waiting for Cosette. We're going out to dinner tonight," Marius said with a happy grin. "I'm a terrible wreck at the moment, so please help distract me."

Eponine's face went blank for a second, and Marius could have sworn that Combeferre was looking at her with something similar to concern. But before he could really decide what all that was supposed to imply, Eponine plastered one of her false smiles onto her face.

"Oh, that was nothing, really. Enjolras and I were just having a healthy disagreement over whether public aid programs or social restructuring was more important in fighting poverty," Eponine stated flippantly. "He was wrong."

"Like I told you," Combeferre piped-up from between them, "Enjolras isn't one for caring about the practical, everyday aspects of reform. He's a grand gestures and fiery revolution type. He needs people to remind him every once in a while."

"Well, I think he'll remember our argument for a while, at least," Eponine replied, this time with a genuine smile. Combeferre laughed and shook his head in amusement.

"Yes, I agree. Although, to be fair, he wasn't entirely wrong. Charity and aid programs that just provide financial assistance without actually addressing the causes behind the poverty are never really going to cure the problem," Combeferre shrugged his shoulders and continued, "Like they say, 'Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, eliminate the oppressive system that keeps him from fishing for himself and you feed him for a lifetime.'"

Eponine wrinkled her nose in response. "That may be true, but it doesn't do you any good if the man starves before he gets a chance to fish."

Combeferre laughed once more before standing up straight and saying, "Touché, Eponine. Just remember what we talked about, and promise me you won't be too vicious in your battles with our dear friend. His discomfort around women gives you a bit of an unfair advantage."

"I solemnly promise not to torture your friend more than necessary," Eponine swore, placing her hand over her heart, but Marius couldn't help but notice the playful glint in her eyes. Combeferre obviously noticed it, too, as he merely sighed and gave her an exasperated look before waving his goodbye.

Eponine watched Combeferre retreat across the grass and shook her head. "That boy worries too much about Enjolras. About everyone, really," she mused. As she turned back towards Marius, Eponine froze.

Cosette was walking towards them, and Marius had just enough time to wonder if his friends were always going to be freezing in place upon noticing her before Cosette was standing in front of him. The smile on her face was exquisite, in his opinion, but he could see the curiosity in her eyes as she noticed Eponine beside him on the bench.

"Cosette!" Marius exclaimed as he joyfully jumped out of his seat. "Let me introduce you to my good friend, Eponine. We ran into each other while I was waiting for you."

Marius noticed that Cosette and Eponine were looking at each other with similar expressions of hesitation, as if they were unsure about what to say. Finally, Eponine broke the silence between them.

"I think... we may have met before," she said, dropping her eyes from Cossette's in an embarrassed fashion.

Cosette smiled tentatively back at her and replied, "Yes, I think you're right, although it was a very long time ago."


	5. Chapter 5

_Chapter 5: In Which Marius Likes Leaves and Enjolras Gains Some Insight_

_The Following Morning_

The leaves had finally started to fall from the trees around campus, and Marius felt like he could sit on the bench forever, sipping his coffee while colors whirled down around him. The surprising discovery of Cosette and Eponine's childhood history the day before had caused a bit of initial awkwardness as the two of them became reacquainted, but some consistent efforts at friendliness on Cosette's part had been rather effective in smoothing things over. By the time Marius and Cosette had left for their date, Eponine had agreed to meet Cosette over the weekend for coffee.

The date itself had been a great success, and they had already agreed to go out again. Yes, the world was beautiful, coffee was beautiful, and nothing could spoil Marius' day.

Not even the sight of an extremely dour-looking Enjolras striding towards Marius.

Most people in their right minds would be terrified of facing Enjolras' wrath, and with good reason, but Marius had known him long enough to tell that he was just what they all referred to as "annoyed" angry, as opposed to the more deadly "fools-I-shall-smite-you-all" angry. Marius had never known anyone else whose shades of anger were captivating enough to be worthy of their own labels.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" Enjolras asked Marius. Marius nodded at his friend, amused that he would bother to ask when most of their friends would have simply taken their welcome for granted. It was typical Enjolras behavior, though. He never wanted to intrude on anyone else's personal space.

Enjolras sat down rather stiffly and stared off into the distance. Marius could tell he wished to speak to him, but wasn't quite sure where to start. So Marius took pity on his friend and spoke first.

"You seem like you have something on your mind, Enjolras. What's the matter?" he asked. Enjolras shifted awkwardly in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with discussing whatever was on his mind. Finally he let out a long sigh and sank backwards into the bench.

"I think your friend Eponine hates me, and I'm not really sure how to fix it," Enjolras admitted, his eyes still locked on some point of the horizon. "I was rather... presumptuous regarding... certain aspects of her character when she first explained her paper to me. I apologized to her later, but I don't think she's actually forgiven me. I'm quite certain of it, really, after what happened this week."

Marius grinned as he sipped his coffee, letting the usually eloquent Enjolras stumble over his words. "Does it really matter if she dislikes you?" Marius asked. "You usually don't care if you make people angry."

Enjolras turned to look at his friend, his forehead furrowed in confusion at Marius' question. "But that's completely different. I was wrong and rather rude to her for no reason. Usually, when I upset people, it's because they're acting immaturely or don't want to face the problems I'm trying to fix. That's their problem."

Marius laughed and decided to take pity on Enjolras once again. After all, he didn't often have the chance to offer Enjolras any advice, and unlike several of their friends, Marius took no joy in making people uncomfortable. "I don't think things are really as bad as you believe, Enjolras. I'm sure if she really hated you, she wouldn't have saved your phone from a terrible death by water fountain. In fact, I'm pretty sure she would have smashed it with a hammer, just to make sure it was really dead afterwards, no matter how much you had helped her beforehand."

Enjolras snorted and then let out a small chuckle. "I believe it," he said.

Marius turned to look Enjolras directly in the face. He wasn't sure if Eponine would be happy with him for sharing information she didn't even know he had, but he figured he could trust Enjolras to use it while still respecting Eponine's privacy.

"Listen, Enjolras, it turns out Cosette and Eponine knew each other when they were children. And when I was out with Cosette last night, she told me some things about Eponine's family. It wasn't a good situation, really, and things have probably only gotten worse since they knew each other. I think you should just keep in mind that Eponine has faced worse things than a little misunderstanding. She'll get over it," Marius explained.

Enjolras nodded his head in understanding and rose from the bench. "Thank you, Marius. I'll keep that in mind," he replied. As Enjolras started to head away, Marius felt one last bit of knowledge surface. He thought it could turn out to be something very important, so he decide to share it with his friend.

"Hey," he called out. Enjolras stopped and looked back towards the bench.

"Eponine loves to argue with people. Just something to keep in mind as well," he said with a smile.


	6. Chapter 6

_Chapter 6: In Which Marius Is Still Enjoying Life, Cosette Forwards The Plot, and Marius Has A Revelation_

_November, One Month Later_

Marius was sure he would be in love with autumn for the rest of his life. He had never spent a happier season anywhere doing anything else. He and Cosette had been spending more time than was probably healthy together, but neither of them really seemed to mind.

Marius' friends minded, of course, since he still wouldn't shut-up about her, but they were all starting to get used to it. Courfeyrac had finally stopped carrying around Skittles to chuck at him whenever he mentioned Cosette, for which Marius was extremely grateful.

Marius had also become overly fond of the park bench he was currently sitting on. Few things could make him calmer than relaxing on the bench while he let his mind wander. It had actually become a joke among everyone that they had never seen a couple before where the one person was in danger of becoming jealous of the other's favorite place to sit.

But Cosette understood. The bench was "their place," as it were. Where they had met and where they continued to meet-up. Even when they weren't planning on doing something together, they would sometimes drift towards the bench in the hopes of running into each other.

Like now, for instance. Marius was sitting on the bench, and Cosette had just wandered over to sit with him. They hadn't actually talked to each other about it, but they knew one another's schedules so well by now that they would have been more surprised not to run into each other.

Cosette smiled and held out the extra coffee she had grabbed on her way. "I saw something rather unusual today on my way here," she told him as she sat down.

"Really?" Marius asked with a smile of his own as he accepted the coffee. "What was it?"

"I saw Eponine and Enjolras sitting in the cafe together, talking like two civilized people," she said. "There was both coffee and Enjolras in the same room as Eponine for more than five minutes, and the coffee didn't end up in Enjolras' face."

"His lap would be more likely," Marius responded with a laugh. "She's vengeful, but I think she'd rather prove her point without disfiguring his pretty face."

"Indeed," Cossette agreed after taking a sip of her own coffee. "She once told me she would have gladly punched him in the nose ages ago, but then she wouldn't be able to admire his face until it healed."

"I'm just glad they're able to work together now without something dramatic happening," Marius said in a more somber tone. He had still been worrying a bit about causing all of this trouble in the first place, however indirectly, but after what Cosette had seen, he was finally able to let himself believe that things would probably turn out alright.

"Yes, poor Courfeyrac will have to find other ways to entertain himself now," Cosette replied in a mock serious tone of her own. They both laughed as they thought of Courfeyrac's likely reaction to the loss of what he called "his favorite comedy act."

"You know what," Marius said suddenly, "I just realized I haven't even seen Eponine around much lately. We used to hang-out quite a bit. I hope she doesn't think I don't want to spend time with her anymore now that you and I are dating."

"I wouldn't worry too much about that," Cosette told him, an odd smile playing across her face.

"Why's that?" Marius asked her, confusion causing him to wrinkle his forehead a little as he watched her face.

"Because I've just had a revelation of my own," she replied. "I just realized that neither Enjolras nor Eponine had any of their school books or project materials with them in the cafe."

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**That's the end, folks!**

**Now, I know some of you might be like, "Wait, no! You said eight chapters! Liar! What kind of ending is that!" I know, I know, I'm sorry. But I figured out that the reason I was having so much trouble with writing after chapter six is that I really don't have much more to say. **

**I am terrible, please forgive me!**


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